A Homewood man who spent nearly 19 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit pleaded guilty to new charges Monday.

Thomas Doswell entered the guilty plea to charges including illegal possession of a firearm and tampering with evidence. He will be sentenced in January and will not be credited for time served in the rape case.

Doswell was exonerated in 2005 on an overturned rape conviction, but a Channel 4 Action News investigation uncovered the run-in with the law that could send Doswell back to jail.

"He doesn't want to go back to prison. Nobody does. And he doesn't miss prison. I just think he has difficulty making the right choices," said Doswell's attorney, James DePasquale.

According to a criminal complaint, an officer pulled Doswell over in August 2012 because he was a material witness in a homicide case. That's when the officer said Doswell tried to get rid of his drugs and "tried to stomp on the cocaine" and resisted arrest.

After police backup arrived, officers found marijuana in Doswell's pants and a "small baggie of crack cocaine and a stun gun" inside the vehicle, according to court records. A handgun was also found on the ground where Doswell threw it out of the passenger-side window, police said. The firearm was "loaded with six live rounds and was dry and warm to the touch."

"The gun did not contain any traceable fingerprints to Thomas Doswell, nor any ownership to Thomas Doswell," DePasquale said. But a more sophisticated DNA test did show Doswell touched the gun, marking the latest incident since he was freed from prison.

Within a year of tasting freedom, Doswell was accused of conspiring to have his former lover killed. Those charges were dropped. In 2007, Doswell pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment.

Two years later, the city of Pittsburgh agreed to pay him more than $3 million in a settlement for the overturned rape case. And yet, "Thomas Doswell doesn't have any money," DePasquale said.

Doswell is out on bond, but his family says he no longer lives at his listed home and DePasquale said his client is not employed at this time.

DePasquale hopes the judge will sentence Doswell to a long period of home confinement with a monitor. While he doesn't excuse Doswell's behavior, he said it's the system that ultimately failed his client.

"He spent 19 years in prison and then they opened up the door and said, 'Goodbye.' There was no supervision, no social services available to him, nothing," DePasquale said."He made bad choices, and we are where we are. He feels terrible. Obviously, you got to live with your choices."

Click here for more on Doswell's previous rape case that was overturned.